Map of Persian Iraq and its surroundings

Persian Iraq, also uncommonly spelled Persian Irak ( fa, عراقِ عجم ''Erāq-e Ajam(i)''; ar, عراق العجم '''Irāq al-'Ajam'' or '''Irāq 'Ajami''), is a

historical region Historical regions (or historical areas) are geographical regions which at some point in time had a cultural, ethnic An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that ...

of the western parts of

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. The region, originally known as

Media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass el ...

in pre-Islamic times, became known as

Jibal Jibāl ( ar, جبال), also al-Jabal ( ar, الجبل), was the name given by the Arabs to a region and province located in western Iran, under the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates. Its name means "the Mountains", being the plural of ''jabal'' (" ...

("mountain, hill") by the early Islamic geographers, due its mountainous layout. The name was progressively abandoned during the

Seljuk Seljuk or Saljuq (سلجوق) may refer to: * Seljuk Empire (1051–1153), a medieval empire in the Middle East and central Asia * Seljuk dynasty (c. 950–1307), the ruling dynasty of the Seljuk Empire and subsequent polities * Seljuk (warlord) (di ...

era in the 11th-12th centuries, and was called ''ʿIrāq(-i) ʿAjamī'' ("Persian Iraq") to distinguish it from ''ʿIrāq(-i) Arab'' ("Arab Iraq") in

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...

. According to the medieval historian and geographer

Yaqut al-Hamawi Yāqūt Shihāb al-Dīn ibn-ʿAbdullāh al-Rūmī al-Ḥamawī (1179–1229) ( ar, ياقوت الحموي الرومي) was a Muslim scholar of Byzantine Greek ancestry active during the late Abbasid period (12th-13th centuries). He is known fo ...

, this course started taking place when the Seljuk sultans ruled both Iraq proper and Jibal, thus being addressed "sultan al-Iraq". However, the city of

Hamadan Hamadan () or Hamedan ( fa, همدان, ''Hamedān'') ( Old Persian: Haŋgmetana, Ecbatana) is the capital city of Hamadan Province of Iran. At the 2019 census, its population was 783,300 in 230,775 families. The majority of people living in Ha ...

in Jibal eventually became their capital, thus resulting in the region becoming known as Iraq, with the word Ajami ("Persian") being added. Following the

Mongol invasion The Mongol invasions and conquests took place during the 13th and 14th centuries, creating history's largest contiguous empire: the Mongol Empire (1206- 1368), which by 1300 covered large parts of Eurasia. Historians regard the Mongol devastati ...

of Iran in the 13th-century, the name Jibal had become completely outdated. In the following century, the geographer

Hamdallah Mustawfi Hamdallah Mustawfi Qazvini ( fa, حمدالله مستوفى قزوینی, Ḥamdallāh Mustawfī Qazvīnī; 1281 – after 1339/40) was a Persian official, historian, geographer and poet. He lived during the last era of the Mongol Ilkhanate, and ...

was unaware of the name Jibal, and only knew it as 'Iraq-i Ajami'. It was regarded by him as ''sardsīr'' ("cold zone"). Later, until the beginning of the 20th century, the term ''Iraq'' in Iran was used to refer to a much smaller region south of

Saveh Saveh ( fa, ساوه, translit=Sāveh, also transliterated as ''Sāwa'') is a city in Markazi Province of Iran. It is located about southwest of Tehran. As of 2011, the city had a population of 259,030 people. History In the 7th century BC it ...

and west of Qom. This region was centered on Soltanabad, which was renamed later as Arak.

References

Sources

* * * * {{EI2 , volume = 2 , title = D̲j̲ibāl , first = L. , last = Lockhart , authorlink = , page = 534 , url = https://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_2068 Historical regions of Iran Historical geography of Iran